Timothy Donoghue, 1st Lieut., June 15, 1861; Capt., Nov. 12, 1861; mustered out with regiment, July 15, 1863.
John M. Lewis, 2d Lieut., June 15, 1864; 1st Lieut., Dec. 2, 1861; mustered out with regiment.
Charles B. Lewis, 1st Sergt., Oct. 1, 1861; 2d Lieut., Nov. 12, 1861; 1st Lieut, Aug. 20, 1862; mustered out with regiment.
FIFTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.
The 56th Regiment was formed of companies from Orange, Ulster, Sullivan and Delaware Counties, Companies A, B, D and E being recruited from Orange, as were also the 7th Battery and Co. C of Mounted Rifles, afterward detached. It was a three-years' regiment, but was continued by re-enlistment, and although the companies were all mustered in between July 31st and December 10th, 1861, the regiment was not mustered out until October 17th, 1865. Its services in the army were varied and creditable throughout, and at times brilliant, and deserved the detailed record of its movements, hardships, perils and achievements in the history by John C. Fisk and William H. D. Blake, members of the regiment, which was published in 1906. It is this well-written history herein epitomized.
The 56th Regiment, first known as the Tenth Legion, was organized in July, 1861, by Charles H. Van Wyck, with headquarters at Newburgh. It consisted of ten companies of infantry, one of sharpshooters, two of artillery and two of cavalry, when it went away, but in Washington the four latter companies were detached and placed in the artillery division and cavalry corps. Its camp of rendezvous and instruction until November 6th was on a sandy plateau by the Hudson River, near New Windsor. In Washington it was made a part of the Provisional Brigade, including also the 52nd and 104th Pennsylvania, the 11th Maine and the 100th New York Regiments. The 56th New York was commanded by Colonel Charles H. Van Wyck until he was brevetted a Brigadier General. Companies A, B and E were recruited in Newburgh by Recruiting Officers Thomas S. Marvel, Charles T. Thayer and William J. Williams, respectively; Co. C of mounted rifles in Montgomery by Frederick Decker, and Co. D in Warwick by John J. Wheeler.
The instructing officer at the New Windsor camp was Charles A. Van Horne Ellis, of the 71st New York Militia, and he proved to be an efficient drill-master in regimental and company movements and the manual of arms, in which officers and men made rapid progress and became expert before leaving for the seat of war. When the regiment reached New York General Stuart L. Woodford presented to it a white silk banner in behalf of a patriotic society called "The Sons of Orange and Sullivan," and this was carried through the whole war. On arriving in Washington in November the regiment was sent to Kalorama Heights, near Georgetown, and tented there about two weeks. The weather was severe, and many of the men contracted colds, pneumonia and rheumatism from unaccustomed exposures, which also proved fatal to some of them. Afterward they camped a few weeks by Rock Creek, in the suburbs of Georgetown, and in January, 1862, went into the Carver barracks on Meridian Hill. The brigade, under General Naglee, had then become one of the best-drilled in the army, and President Lincoln and family and General Scott and daughter repeatedly came to Meridian Hill to witness its parade. It was in the grand review of 140,000 men under General McClellan which preceded the movement to the Peninsula, and on March 26th crossed the Long Bridge in Casey's division of four brigades, which marched thence to Alexandria, where on April 1st they started down the Potomac on the steamer "Constitution" for the Peninsula, reached Hampton Roads in the evening of April 2nd, and proceeded to Newport News April 3d. On this last trip the men had their first experience under fire, but the shells which the rebels shot at them from Sewell's Point fell short.
At Newport News they went into camp on a large plantation, waited for the rest of the army a few days, and marched with it to Yorktown. Here the men on picket line were almost constantly under fire, and all were kept in a fever of excitement by the roar of cannon and cracks of rifles along the whole line from river to river, day and night.
The first real baptism of fire experienced by the 56th was on April 16th, when a large force of the enemy came out and fell on the left of the division near Lee's Mills. The rebels were repulsed, and the officers commended the men of the regiment for their courage and steadiness under fire. May 5th they had more fighting experience after a swift march of the day before to the front of Fort McGruder in the suburbs of Williamsburgh. Here they took part in a charge on their enemies with fixed bayonets, which caused the latter to flee in confusion leaving many dead and wounded and about 600 prisoners. They remained in line of battle all night, standing in deep mud, and drenched by a drizzling rain. When, the next afternoon, they were each given three biscuits of hardtack it was the first food they had eaten in two days, and ended the first experience of intense gnawing hunger with the most of them. May 9th they followed the retreating rebels over roads deep with mud, exchanging shots with them day after day, sleeping on the ground at night, wading streams waist-deep sometimes, with little to eat, and much of the time only what they could jayhawk. May 19th they drove the enemy across the Chickahominy at a point opposite Richmond, and as all the bridges had been destroyed, waded the next day across the Oozy river without much opposition, and waited for the rest of the corps, which followed in three days, and crossed the river on a bridge which had meanwhile been constructed for them. During the next three days the regiment was kept on the move making reconnaissances and scouting, and scouted to within four miles of the city of Richmond.
May 28th the 56th found itself assigned with Casey's division to a position on the right of the Williamsburgh turnpike, remained on picket till sometime after the attack of the 31st and captured a number of the enemy's skirmishers. Later, when the two lines of battle were formed, it was placed to support Spratt's battery, but the battery's captain relieved it and left the division lying on the ground exposed to the plunging fire of the enemy's artillery, which killed the men "at a fearful rate." They then formed in the edge of the woods, and there fought two hours, and Colonel Van Wyck was wounded in the leg by a piece of shell. The division that day opposed a force of 30,000, and held the line. Three times the enemy charged to within reach of their bayonets, and each time was driven back. The division made one of the most bloody and obstinate fights of the war, and lost nearly half of its men, but, it was believed, saved the army of the Potomac from great disaster.